WGD: GAME 14: RED WINGS @ SENATORS

The Red Wings are riding a two-game win streak heading into Ottawa to take on Erik Karlsson and the Senators. It’s the first of a four-game road trip where they’ll take on all of Western Canada in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. In their second game of the season, the Wings defeated the Senators in a 2-1 shootout. Another win tonight would be a good start for what is certain to be a tough Canadian roadie.

Going into the game tonight, Dylan Larkin leads the team with 12 points and Andreas Athanasiou has points in his last two games. Along with Anthony Mantha, the kid line put up a combined four points against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. But that was Tuesday and today is Thursday. We all know how this team’s play can change over the course of two days. Let’s see how they stack up against tonight’s Senators.

Per Jeff Blashill‘s promise, he hasn’t tinkered with the lines lately and it seems to be working. The team has a +2 goal differential over their last two games and are getting offensive contributions from all four lines. Look for the Kid Line to receive more ice time in big minutes tonight.

Frans Nielsen missed the morning skate and will be a game-time decision. Blashill has said that there’s nothing to worry about here – it’s just a precaution.

With Danny DeKeyser out an additional 1-3 weeks, Blashill will continue to ice the six competent D-men that he has (with Witkowski as the extra). Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley have been good together as have Xavier Ouellet and Nick Jensen. Niklas Kronwall had a particularly good game against the Coyotes, but he should be getting more sheltered minutes and less time on the special teams. Mike Green has been a good partner for him as he’s got the speed that Kronwall can’t muster up anymore.

Something’s making its way through the Sens locker room. Just as Kyle Turris returns after a three game absence due to an illness, Matt Borowiekci will miss tonight’s game due to an illness. Turris has 3 goals and 8 points in 9 games played, so he’ll be a force to be reckoned with on the Senators’ second line.

Mark Stone is leading the team with 12 points in 12 games played, followed by his linemate Derick Brassard with 11 points in 12 games. Detroit will likely be looking for a match-up here with their Abby-Nielsen-Helm line.

Finally, Erik Karlsson is coming off a career-worst -6 performance against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. The Sens took a real beating in their 8-3 loss, but Karlsson is having a fantastic season otherwise. With 10 points in 7 games, he’s quickly overtaking his teammates in the team rankings. As always, he’s a threat that Detroit will need to minimize if they want to walk away with a W.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Jimmy Howard vs. Craig Anderson.

Howard is coming off of another strong performance on Tuesday. He stopped 33 of 36 shots in the win over Arizona and finished October at 5-4-0 with a 2.57 GAA and .927 SV%. Howard has done a good job patching up for a bad Red Wings’ blueline—he sits 15th in the NHL among qualified netminders in high-danger SV% (80.95).

As for Anderson, who was excellent last season, he has had a tough star to 2017-18. In his last outing he was yanked against the Canadiens after allowing six goals on just 15 shots. He has now allowed a combined 21 goals on the last 156 shots that he faced (.865 SV%) and that spans over his last five starts.

HOW TO WATCH

Puck-drop between the Red Wings and Panthers is at 7:30 p.m. at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, Ontario. You can catch the game on Fox Sports Detroit in the United States or on TSN5 in Canada.

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